Killed more than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS outbreak of 2003 this after 89 more deaths in mainland China on Saturday brought the global death toll to more than 80774 people were killed by SARS it was the deadliest day yet for the corona virus which originated in the central Chinese city of wool hon and has continued to spread rapidly there have been more than 37000 cases of the virus globally mostly in China foreign nationals arriving in the United Kingdom from China who are being quarantined before they can resume their normal lives the always Tommy McNeil has more Britain's final evacuation flight from the Chinese city of Ohio on the epicenter of a corona virus outbreak landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on Sunday the British government said in a statement that the plane had more than 200 people on board including non British nationals the passengers also included staff who facilitated the flight as well as medics will be housed at a conference center for 14 days of quarantine Tommy McNeil v.o.a. News Dr Michael Ryan head of the World Health Organization's health emergencies Response Program says he understands the quarantines can be uncomfortable but they help ensure the coronavirus doesn't spread we're also working to ensure that those individuals who are left of the ships are able to get all as quickly as possible and just ensure the protocols and the algorithms can work and we don't end up with an unfortunate consequence of people having to stay too long in that situation for more on this and other stories you can visit our website at v.o.a. News dot com This is via way news. With the spread of the corona virus has been rapid at while the spread of the current a virus has been rapid Africa has yet to be hit but there are preparations underway to deal with it if it comes recession line has more from Geneva this is of little comfort to w.h.o. Regional director for Africa much she does so moiety she tells v.o.a. Watching the virus reach other continents around the world is of great concern and we had. Quite significant travel of people from China to Africa and back more 80 says her team has begun working with member states to help them get ready for the possible onset of the coronavirus she says w.h.o. Is providing overall guidance to ministers of health on how to manage possible cases and prevent further spread of the disease that was Lisa reporting for v.o.a. In Geneva security forces in northeastern Thailand say the Thai soldier who killed at least 26 people in a shooting rampage in a shopping mall and wounded dozens more was killed by Thai Armed Forces 8 hostages were also rescued the 31 year old shooter was angry over a financial dispute the prime minister of Thailand addressed the media. It was a personal conflict over an. Issue with money and fought for 3 days nobody expected it to turn violent. After a Friday night debate the Democratic presidential candidates have been making their push in New Hampshire correspondent Ben Thomas reports. 'd feel how close we are feeling within our bare feet would a judge and Bernie Sanders emerge from Iowa in a dead heat our ideas all the ideas of what little class of this country believe Joe by. It is taking aim at both saying Sanders will drag other Democratic candidates down every Democrat will have to carry the label that Senator Sanders has chosen for himself but may he's chosen democratic socialist Elizabeth Warren says candidates need to get away from big dollar donors the only way we're going to make this better is we use this Democratic primary to build a grassroots movement while any club or Star says she can unite and win getting away from the extremes and the noise and the nonsense in our politics on Ben Thomas u.s. Secretary of state might pay 0 is warning American governors from across the country of the risks of doing business with China saying competition with China is happening on a federal state and local level and has consequences for u.s. Foreign policy and national security This is Laurel Berman or v.o.a. News. From Washington feel a sense issues in the news. Welcome to issues in the news on the panel this week Linda Feldman Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor Tom De Frank contributing editor to The National Journal and our moderator Michael Williams Peter from c.b.s. Radio in Washington. Welcome everyone here are the issues the impeachment trial of u.s. President Donald Trump concluded with the u.s. Senate voting not guilty on both counts ending a process that highlighted the deep political divides in the government and in the populace on the day before his acquittal President Trump gave his annual State of the Union Address delivering a speech that at times seemed more like a campaign rally but the night will likely be remembered as much for the tense interactions but. When Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on that night and in the days that followed and the 2020 presidential race got off to a rocky official start as the Iowa caucuses produced results that were delayed for days and produce results that were contested by virtually every candidate but the candidates had no time to catch their breath with the New Hampshire primary looming just days away Palace Welcome to day even as we sit here and for the last 3 years we've used so many times I know I have an extraordinary week in politics this is with a capital I think it's just one for the for the history books for the record books both positively and negatively I can say but start with the acquittal the trial ended virtually as everyone would thought with the acquittal on both counts the votes were clearly not there from for the beginning for conviction and certainly with the Senate choosing not to hear witnesses new witnesses and not to introduce new documents into the process it made that acquittal all but a certainty but despite the lack of drama it seemed that it did produce some moments of drama and of history you know I'll start with you acquittal no surprise correct correct he needed to be convicted we would have had to have 2 thirds of the Senate that $67.00 senators and with Republicans already having a majority it was impossible but we thought it was going to sail right into acquittal with nothing all that interesting but surprise Mitt Romney a senator from Utah and the Republican Party's 2012 nominee for president decided to vote convict he gave a very moving speech from the Senate floor cited his deep religious faith he's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and he just felt that he had to do what he had to do it was a vote of conscience thus Donald Trump's perhaps perfect week was ruined but he denied to be a full party acquittals. Reanimate is good all the it saw and at some point the Republicans were even looking for Democrats that might have crossed over in states that had voted heavily for Trump in the last presidential election West Virginia Doug Jones of Alabama Joe Mansion Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia among them Romney's vote again he voted to acquit on one on one count which was the abuse of power and not for a not for obstruction of Congress you've seen the things before how extraordinary was that vote it's an extraordinary were the capital he underscored an exclamation point because there's not a lot of profiles in courage in this town anymore and it's become even more difficult in the in the Trump era because President Trump has a cadre of very loyal and very passionate followers and he has made it clear that if Republicans cross him they can be prepared to suffer the consequences I think part of the Republican vote in the Senate was some of it was principled some senators just didn't think what he did rose to the level of an impeachable offense but what I heard and others have been hearing for months is that Republican senators are afraid of him Trump wheels power and he has made it clear you stick with me or you pay a price and I thought it was not at all a coincidence that within minutes of Senator Romney voting to convict on one of the counts Donald Trump Jr put out a tweet saying Romney is not just a failed presidential candidate he should be expelled from the Republican Party and there's been more invective that's even a little more bitter involved or than that coming from various parts of the truck so there's no there's a Romney is what he described as a principled decision was also a gutsy decision because he will pay a price now that they're not going to recall I am Utah is not going to recall Amy is not going to be expelled from the Republican caucus but he's going to be messed up he's going to he's going to do some software. And I think he's pretty bulletproof but like I understand it going to change for him I mean it definitely is it's not going to be the same that he was before I don't think I don't think Romney is going to be be looking for to see a lot of White House imitation just sort of mildly to put it mildly and be yeah no I mean the only question that it raises for me is I mean I think Mitt Romney is 72 years old I don't think he's ever planning on running for president again but is whether he can still be an effective representative of Utah in Donald Trump's permanent doghouse forget about White House invitations I mean can he aside from just voting what what other power does he have so the interesting thing about Utah is that they don't love Donald Trump and it is a very deeply Republican state but because of its predominance of the of the Mormon faith in that state and a lot of Mormons are not wild about Donald Trump for religious reasons they don't like his right this matters it matters of care of the morality question morale is large for them and so Donald Trump is while they popular and I think that gives Romney some kind of cushion and you know it's interesting to me that when House lead manager Adam Schiff had mentioned during some of his comments that he had heard reports that Republicans who dared to cross the line and vote against Trump in any way would face their quote unquote head on a pike you know they would face retribution certain senators took offense to that and immediately after Romney crossed the line his proverbial head was on a pike so it seems as though all of that kind of came true let's go back to the case itself because as we say the the acquittal was all but done deal based on the votes that were there and certainly was not going to happen without any body like John Bolton former national security adviser John Bolton whose book is still looming out there on the horizon and his information that he has about what on in the room apparently passable Loney the White House counsel one of the attorneys for the president was. In the room when these plans are being made to make deals with Ukraine in exchange for campaign favors the Democrats didn't prove their case to the Senate but they did they prove their case to the people that matter which which are the voters because ultimately the how this is going to come down to the voters today prove their case convincingly to the voters well going into the before the votes were taken public opinion polls show that about 70 to 72 percent of the American people wanted the Senate to call witnesses and to provide and then to have consider new documents and it was almost $5050.00 split among the American people about whether Trump should be convicted and removed from office I mean it was like a 52 to 48 range and so the country was is polarizes on impeachment and I and conviction is it is on just about everything else so I think you could say they probably probably made the case to half the country and half the country that didn't think they made the case or from voters so we think that middle minds were changed it really didn't move anybody all right but I think there's a key Another key aspect here and that is Donald Trump's job approval rating did go up he got a little impeachment belts so it's similar to Bill Clinton back in 1990 when he was impeached and his job approval soared to 70 percent I mean Donald Trump is locked into a pretty steady job approval but he did get to 49 percent in the Gallup poll and it will be that this is my level it will be actually to see whether his take no prisoners performance in the east room towards the end of the week will will cause those numbers to flow back down Russian No we're coming to here when we are getting to that in a moment but before we leave the subject of the of the trial so you had House oversight to the extent that they were able to do it you had the case brought before the Senate and now you have not guilty verdict on 2 on 2 counts what is the future of oversight with the rest of this presidency to the investigations aren't ending that the die. Macross are likely to call John Bolton to testify and the Republicans in the Senate say they're going to call go after witnesses they want to they want to go after the whistleblower the person who launched this whole thing and reported the call that Trump had with the president of Ukraine so this isn't over at all we're just we're just you know went away we're just starting we're almost out of like an investigative branch of government right it's like a nonstop investigation nonstop investigations and with Nancy Pelosi holding the power to do that in the house you have Mitch McConnell the House Senate majority leader being able to do the same thing and you have a very very very active Trump supporter Lindsey Graham who is ready to call all kinds of hearings and call for all kinds of information it does like this is getting ready to be a political food fight and there's no doubt about it Michael ironically everybody seems energized here the House Democrats the Senate Republicans the Trump White House they're all going to keep this going I mean there's no you get a feeling there's no lessons learned from anybody it's funny that you used that term because several of the senators who chose to vote not guilty had said that they felt Lamar Alexander one Susan Collins I think was another one who said that they felt that Donald Trump from this would learn a lesson that you have the last word what lessons were learned Well I'm not sure any lessons were learned and Susan Collins she said she believed that he might modify his behavior and then the next day she walked that back she's a senator from Maine in a tough reelection fight she walked it back and said Well that was aspirational on her part that she hopes he's learned a lesson but I think nobody else is even going as far as she is yeah on hope and change was Obama's and I don't know that would carry over to this administration we're going to take a break and we'll be back with more issues in the news issues in the news is coming to you from the Voice of America in Washington and if you would like to download the program it's free on i Tunes Just click on the i Tunes tab on our website that's below a knees dot com. While you're there check out our other programs Press Conference USA and encounter also visit us on Facebook and leave a comment or 2 then like us at current affairs with Carol cast Yele Now back to our panel Linda Feldmann Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor Tom De Frank contributing editor to The National Journal and our moderator Michael Williams contributor to c.b.s. Radio in Washington. Welcome back again a remarkable week produced a remarkable exchange of statements and speeches between Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi It began with I would say generously the most peculiar state of the Union that I've ever seen then a speech given by the president at a net National Prayer Breakfast in Washington d.c. It's sort of the prayer lobby in a way of call it that meets annually were Trump lashed out at his enemies real and perceived particularly Palosi and Senator Romney Palosi responded with some scathing criticism of her own at her weekly press conference calling the State of the Union a manifesto of lies and suggesting that the president might have been sedated somehow during this week and finally the president took a victory lap in the East Room of the White House and gave a profanity laced tirade that was heavy with both accusations and warnings of retribution quite frankly a time I'll start with you were to start they state of the Union you pick a place well the state of the Union I think I've never heard a state of the Union quite like that now it was really a campaign rally but it was it was more Schober than a campaign rally but he basically was ticking off all the good things he and his administration has been he reiterated all of his main campaign pledges and he basically said more of the same it was a little more measured only because he didn't do a lot of name calling there his he reserve that for 2 days later. But it was a strong a powerful hand and oftentimes times belligerent state of the Union whatever it was it was not a let's come together bind up the nation's wars and this was not a healing speech this was were coming after his speech and I think that he set the tone for what we've all heard in campaign rallies and I think we're going to this is going to be the tone for the next 9 months until the election yeah I mean it was literally given to one half of the room the president turned his body and faced the Democrats only to emphasize a point once it was given or to acknowledge the applause that was coming from the Republican side of the room and then there was this sense of these guests being invited which started with President Reagan I believe right and has now escalated to the point where I think that is pretty much what defined this one with people giving good but give me given awards and scholarships I mean your thoughts on that right it was it was a look at who it was it well it was it was a made for t.v. Many made for t.v. Moments conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who's just been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer was awarded on the spot the Medal of Freedom the highest civilian honor you can get in the United States you know on both sides actually it isn't wasn't just tromp and it wasn't just Republican actions designed to create moments that the Democrats went Trump in one of his few moments calling for bipartisanship he called for action on health care no surprise billing and lower drug prices and that immediately summoned Democrats to start tackling him I've never seen that and gesturing that this was planned it was h r h r 3 which is legislation has already been passed in the house to lower drug prices and I think the larger point is that we're starting to see Democrats and Gage and Trump in actions stunts and the question is whether that whether that's a good idea are they all getting down into the muck and then there was the most famous moment. And it's a policy took the per printed copy of the speech and ripped it in half on t.v. Right after the speech it ended and thus the Democrats are in the muck with Donald Trump Yeah they are and even before that when a lot of people did not notice that the speaker chose not to give the traditional the traditional recognition of the president when introducing him saying it's my high honor and distinct privilege it was just simply the president of the United States and this after he had snubbed her for handwriting she well we don't know we don't know it he appeared to snub her she extended her hand and then he turned away we don't know that he didn't that he saw her hand and rejected it but very true this is what things are to be right and again but appearances count for everything right and as you say it was a made for television show and now the Democrats have decided to to participate at the prayer breakfast the president commented on Nancy Pelosi and Mitt Romney accusing them of being essentially hypocrites in their faith Palosi who said that she prays for the president that she doesn't really that Mitt Romney is hiding behind his faith president then went immediately to the East Room of the White House and uttered a profanity in the East Room of the White House describing his his thoughts about the Miller investigation and other investigations that have been directed towards him Where is this all going I mean Nancy Pelosi said I feel liberated at some point during her press conference President Trump clearly feels that he is has given given free license He's been free license to just stay and do whatever he wants by his party faithful Where is this going how low can we go in terms of this thing because we're just starting here at the beginning of the presidential campaign we can go we can go lower There's no doubt about it the president feels emboldened he feels that he has been totally exonerated there's a phrase he's taken to using here and they have the Democrats I think are so angry they clearly think that he is a bad guy he thinks they're horrible people he called Speaker Pelosi a couple of times a horrible per. They called other government officials at the top level scum I mean this was also very personal and it still after all this time after all 3 years and we've seen it over and over and over again for so many people I think those of us who have been around this for a long time you can't help but strike a nerve and strike a chord and I think I will really I think what we're seeing is we've got Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi think of them as generals speaking to their troops so you have to ask yourself why is Nancy Pelosi stooping to Trump's level I think because she has to her party is in disarray and she needs to keep keep everybody with her and they can't stand Donald Trump and even if she herself might prefer a more genteel approach she has to keep her troops with her especially the kind of the left wing of the party and that I think is why she's behaving this way and being very vituperative toward the president yet she talked about maintaining her dignity that you always wanted to maintain her dignity and I think that even with her tearing up of the speech she felt that that was a dignified act you know and right in her world maybe even outside the box for her 4 years ago 8 years ago but maybe even a week ago but I mean she is a very dignified lady but she's also very very politically shrewd I mean you can 2nd guess her but I think she knows what she's doing and just to get back into the state of the Union and sort of the core of this speech the meat of it because this was essentially a kickoff of the campaign and you talked about the statistics and circumstances that were laid out and I will hesitate to call them facts because there's been a lot of fact checking on them and many of them were somewhat off the mark how will the Democrats use that sort of thing because the president does have the bully pulpit and he gets the 1st crack at it how do they get swing voters to recognize when I fact is not necessarily a fact when it's not correct for whatever reason I think they're going to have to spend more money on ads than they were that television has and they were expecting me because you know you can't get into a lot of details on. What all these all these half truths and exaggerations that the president has is noted for I mean for instance it's really interesting that who would have believed this the economy is roaring there's no doubt about it and there's also no doubt the president deserves credit for that but it's also true that in the last 3 years of the bom bom administration more jobs were created than the in the 1st 3 years of the trumpet ministration So I mean the bottom line is you're right Michel the Democrats have got to figure out a way to break through with independents and moderates trumps base will believe anything he says every time he says it and there are millions of people Democrats and others who loathe him and won't believe anything he says of so the key is going to be not just turnout but turning out independents and moderates who can. Assess Trump's charges and deal with them as a little more say it's going to be a hard slog and a nasty vicious slaw go all the way to the election Speaking of which will turn to the the Democratic caucuses and primaries both of which are happening virtually at the same time the schedule gets very compressed right now but political schedule what was supposed to be a celebration of democracy turned into a complete nightmare for Democratic officials in Iowa as a new technology and old technology failed completely leaving the results of the caucuses in question the again days after they had been held we have a winner now though I think we finally have had final results come in I heard on some reports are still out there with 99 percent 98 but I think it's 100 percent reporting but the numbers are maybe a little fishy but I think if you all elections are messy Ok never look at it too and the danger comes when it's super close so this one was super duper close and let's call it a tie let's call it tight p. Do you judge the former mayor of South Bend Indiana who's I think what 3839 years old young guy gay up against Bernie Sanders the 78 year old senator from Vermont not even a Democrat they are. There are the 2 front runners and they're now in New Hampshire and Bernie Sanders is going to win New Hampshire he's the senator from the neighboring state right likely to win New Hampshire you know I think one of the shocking but not completely unexpected results was that Joe Biden the former vice president did very poorly in Iowa and is running on fumes that is likely not to make it much longer he said it was a good point it was a got punch she was acknowledging that and Elizabeth Warren is fading so it's maybe down to just 2 people Tom winners and losers. I couldn't agree more with with Linda on this Joe Biden was a huge loser coming in 4th big one or was gone all Trump Trump as salivating at the prospect of running against Bernie Sanders matter of fact he's been defending Bernie Sanders now and then and his aides have been talking Sander's up why because they know they believe that of Sanders is the Democratic nominee Trump's going to win 40 states and they would they would love that now overnight is a lifetime in politics you both heard me say it many times and there are many instances in political history where we're front runners have gotten clobbered in some help pull themselves off the man I remember the night well February the 8th 1988 Vice President Bush was running and it was the it was the Iowa caucuses and he got his clock cleaned by Kansas Senator Robert Dole and it looked like Bush the incumbent vice president endorsed by Ronald Reagan he pulled it he pulled it out John Sununu who was a former governor of New Hampshire said you can win in New Hampshire but you have to listen to me don't listen to all the idiots around you I will show you how to win and in the space of 10 days Bush turned it around stabilized this situation by winning New Hampshire now it's going to be a tall order provided they're going to have Sure but he's he's he's got to stop the freefall because he thinks that if he can hang in there till South Carolina or is expected to win he can stabilize but he's got to do so. Quickly the other thing I have also very quickly the other the other big development that has got to be troublesome for Democrats is the turnout was not great right and Iowa and the enthusiasm from 28 was not manifested in 2020 and that's a that's a trend of the Democrats are going to have to worry about a lot I'll finish the Linda who's more likely to come out of New Hampshire viable Joe Biden or Senator Amy Klobuchar Oh gosh I don't think either is viable but I will say any club has gotten a lot of notice in this race moderate woman senator from Minnesota a heartland state that trump almost won 4 years ago she could be a top prospect for a running mate for the eventual Democratic nominee I totally agree I think one of the other winners has been on the ballot in Iowa well he wasn't about that let's say that one of the guys who's a winner we haven't talked about is Mike Bloomberg Yes And it's sort of fascinated that the election is so focused on 370 year old New Yorkers who grew up within about a 10 mile radius of each other kind of fascinating out of this great big country that that's or up again so unfortunately that's all the time we have for this week thanks to our panel Linda Feldmann Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor and Tom De Frank contributing editor to The National Journal this program is produced by the always Kim Lewis our engineer is Justin plates and I'm Michael Williams thanks for listening to our. Well money a combination of a lot of different early American music styles it's country then country music like Honky Tonk r. And b. a Lot of folk songs and. A different section of a black folk music the real secular music that's connected to the blues but it's what came before in the spring and so the spring band music was something that's the root of all the different types of popular music that have come out in America so my music is a combination of all. Feel Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen with my own music I think. One thing I want the audience to walk away with is a sense of the rich tradition of music that we. I have in the United States of America and that's that word like things that go and then my own original material it's a lot of different things but a lot of traditional elements of the blues and jazz and such talking about heartbreak in hard times and other times like I got a song called too long I've been gone the thing about traveling this is one called your baby and sweet lack of mine. Told me you know. I'm just reading a. Baby girl in jail and. Nobody's baby became really. Baby. And she. Looks really old so make me my baby know just what to do yes she told me she. Never Made me with me so she oh my oh I don't want to go. And baby you squealing mine Oh no a baby faced me. Hold me down. Right back up. Jim don't some like to roam around on the phone with him or gal in town to play Are. I try to take those same ideas and and just kind of shed light on different pieces of the puzzle ones that interest me some have a deep personal connection to me other ones are just songs that I really enjoyed that show a story or a piece of history and so I try to bring that even with the original numbers I usually try to get a style right in that style and and try to shed some light on a particular region of the country that you know the people might not have heard of before and I feel like when people see that and they hear the story I tell they can look at themselves and they can say wait I have a unique piece of the puzzle in my own community because a lot of times people grow up not knowing or not really thinking about it not being aware that they have their own unique musical traditions in their own community and they you know it's just so natural that folk music folk arts folk foodways or whatever that's just a few grow up with and that's something that I try to do is tell the story so that people can say hey wait a 2nd I've got a story to tell and maybe they'll want to do something with. 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